"If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn't, so it doesn't." Ray's crass and otherwise politically incorrect commentary carries the audience through Martin McDonagh's dark comedy In Bruges (2008). The city itself, with its preserved medieval architecture and "fairy-tale" atmosphere (as Ralph Fiennes' Harry would put it), serves as more than just a setting for the two hiding hit men. Forced to spend their days seeing the sights and sounds of Bruges, McDonagh subtly works the concept of tourism into the narrative as more than just a shameless plug to an otherwise unknown city.*
He comments on America's current popularity (or general lack thereof) in Europe through Ray's off-hand remarks toward many of the visiting Americans (and one unfortunate Canadian, as you'll see) while still holding true to the main narrative structure of the film itself. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes offer compelling performances as does Clemence Poesy, although I found it particularly distracting to see 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Voldemort and Fleur Delacour in Bruges and not in Hogwarts. If that distracts you during your viewing of the film, I apologize. But hey, it bothered me, too. Otherwise, McDonagh's feature-length directorial debut is worth a look, if only to see a smart (albeit far from perfect) script convey both humanizing remorse and unforgiving humor as two Irish hit men hide away in this quiet Belgian city. In Bruges.

*not to say Bruges doesn't have its fans, or to say that its inhabitants are any less for living there.